I didn't say the justice system is just, I said that experimentation on prisoners where an outcome could be positive for the prisoner is illogical.

That a lot of people sitting in jail are saying they are innocent does not prove they are innocent. It does prove that our legal system is founded on a "innocent until proven guilty" and "guilt is proven beyond a shadow of a doubt." If the guilty can create doubt, then they are as innocent as OJ.

Would you mind providing a source for prisoner experimentations you are claiming to exist? I am not being combative, just curious.

Origin
If Cage has had a history of incarceration, it wouldn't be hard to sell that he is wrongfully convicted and putting a black man in jail is, unfortunately, really easy in this country. If you want to make experimenting on prisoners "normal" that's fine, but to give a prisoner, i.e. someone you want to control, powers that makes them uncontrollable...well, that's dumb. A volunteer is the only way you can guarantee compliance. Prisoners are inherently non-compliant.

If AIM or HYDRA or some organization like that were running the prison, you could say they are looking for not-nice people as volunteers. If the prison was attempting to make a stable of villains and grabbed Cage, who was trying to turn his life around before his wrongful imprisonment, and they experimented on him with the understanding he would be a villain...that could work better but then you would need to explain all these minor villains running around as Cage wasn't the only one getting powers. Cage's innocence is eventually proven, he is released and forms Heroes for Hire and everyone lives happily ever after.

There is a giant assumption being made by the experimenter that Cage would be a villain based on his history. If you can get an audience to believe that, then experimenting on prisoners by an evil organization becomes believable. (This origin isn't much different than Blonsky/Abomination actually; giving a power to someone you think you can control until you cannot and they switch sides)

Honestly dude, it sounds like you're overcomplicating it. Evil organization runs prison... that naturally comes with experimentation on prisoners, empowered enforcers, good guys caught up in the system, and complex control systems that can be circumvented by various means. There's no need to establish "We think all these volunteers are compliant." EvilCo. says "if we find out they're not compliant, we just kill them." No muss no fuss. This is all stuff we've seen before.

Also, having others empowered like Cage adds a nice slice of awesome to the mix. In my mind, I had adapted the Wrecking Crew into Cage villains, empowered along with him, and he basically turns on them. Especially if AIM had some sort of Asgardian scrap of metal lying around that Wrecker could lead them to steal, all the more awesome. Regardless, evil criminals empowered is an opportunity, not a challenge.

Wow. I was so going by the fan ratings... and I'm so confused... cuz Luke Cage has been doing feats far beyond 25 tons like... forever. Fighting Sentry and Warbound and Dormammu-Hood and thunderclapping and... yeesh. A LOT. The official ratings are out of date on this character, or someone has a LOT of explaining to do.